Sentence Combining 3: Relative Clause

Relative clauses provide extra information about something. In this lesson, we use relative clauses to talk about nouns. So in this lesson, a relative clauses acts like an adjective.

These relative clauses begin with three relative pronouns: “which, that or who.” Here are three examples.

Motorcycle racing is a dangerous sport. It is enjoyed by many young people.

Motorcycle racing is a dangerous sport which is enjoyed by many young people.

The cat loved a mouse. The mouse was beautiful.

The cat loved a mouse that was beautiful.

Alfred Einstein was a famous scientist. He won a Noble prize for his work in theoretical physics.

Alfred Einstein was a famous scientist who won a Noble prize for his work in theoretical physics.

Sentence Combing 4: Appositives

Appositives? Huh? Sounds hard, but it isn’t.

An appositive is a noun that describes another noun. Appositives can be a single word or many words (a phrase). An appositive looks like a relative clause but there are no words like ‘which, who or that’ at the beginning of the clause.

Here are three examples; the appositives are in red.

The appositive can go at the front of the sentence. Like this:

A skilled but wild hockey player, Jack skated to the referee and punched him in the nose.

An appositive can go in the middle of the sentence, usually with lots of commas. Like this:

Jack, a skilled but wild hockey player, skated to the referee and punched him in the nose.

Or an appositive can go at the end of the sentence. Like this:

The fans cheered Jack, a skilled but wild hockey player who skated to the referee and punched him in the nose.

Download the Writing Worksheets

You’ve learned two more ways to combine two sentences into one. Now try the worksheet.